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Chikungunya symptoms detected

KASARAGOD: Several fever cases with symptoms of chikungunya have been reported from the eastern parts of Kasaragod during the last one week.

A high-level team of the Health Department led by Director of Health Services K. Shylaja and Additional Director C. Raghavan visited the district on Wednesday and took stock of the situation. The team held a review meeting at the Poodamkallu Community Health Centre (CHC) and interacted with the Kasaragod District Collector at the Collectorate.

The Health Department on Wednesday opened an epidemic control room at Panathady Community Health Centre.

According to doctors at the Panathady CHC, as many as 125 persons with epidemic fever who also showed signs of chikungunya sought treatment at the CHC in the last 10 days. Cases of fever persons showing signs of chikungunya had been reported from Kasaragod in 2007 also. But the total number of such cases reported in the whole year was only 32. Several persons are undergoing treatment at the hospital. The patients admitted to the CHC said they had high fever and had swelling at the joints.

Fever patients showing signs of chikungunya have sought treatment at Panathady, Panathoor, Nellikkatta, Chamundikkunnu, Adukkam, Ranipuram and Kallappally, all in the eastern parts of the district.

The district health authorities said blood samples had been taken from the patients and sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, for detailed analysis. The samples had been sent to the State virology institute in Alappuzha initially but because of the shortage of chikungunya testing kits, the samples were sent to Pune. A team of officials from the Alappuzha institute has arrived at Panathady.

At the meeting held at the Kasaragod collectorate, the DHS said an additional doctor had been appointed at the Panathaday CHC to attend to the patients. The total number of doctors at the CHC had risen to seven following the

appointment. One staff nurse, four junior health inspectors, one laboratory technician and two block coordinators had been appointed at the Panathady CHC to deal with the situation. Dr. Shylaja said the Health Department would allot Rs.10 lakh for the purchase of medicines.

The review meeting at the Poodamkallu CHC said local bodies in the district could utilise their funds for implementing various steps to control the outbreak of the disease. The presidents of Panathady, Kallar, and Balal panchayats participated in the meeting. The district authorities are also planning steps to strengthen sanitation programmes. They said mosquito nets would be distributed in the epidemic fever-hit areas.

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